Fire Safety and Fire Panel Installation:

Here at Sureserve, we are dedicated to ensuring landlords of residents within social housing are maintaining protected, compliant and safe properties. Our installation of fire systems actively coordinates detection networks that are able to quickly locate smoke or heat, then guide safe evacuations. The installation of these systems is specifically designed to ensure these locations meet the British Standards with minimal disruption to the day to day running of the site.  

Landlords should verify these fire safety measures are in place:  

• Routine testing: checking the fire systems are tested weekly is a legal requirement and ensuring these tests are logged and up to date. 
• Professional servicing: dependent on whether the professional service is taking place on a site small, medium or large, a certified fire alarm engineer could come every few months, every 6 months or once a year.
• Fault monitoring: any fault regarding the fire panel system must be investigated and fixed immediately. 
• Unobstructed access: ensure that the surrounding the fire panel clear from any interference whether this is storage is individual. 
• Battery Backup: there needs to be confirmed standby batteries that routinely are tested and replaced every few years.  

Why fire panels are important to landlords of social housing  

Fire panels are critical for the social housing sector as they are able to provide a crucial role in efficiently detecting, locating and managing fire emergencies. Landlords of social housing face stern legal requirements under laws like Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) order 2005, which states that they are responsible for the building’s safety, including the maintenance of fire panels. These central fire panels give an early, accurate warning, allowing the exact location of danger to be easily identified. 

Using Our Expertise to Create Social Value 

At Sureserve Compliance Fire, we believe social value is most impactful when we use our specialist expertise to support the communities we work in. Through Peabody's Match My Project platform, an opportunity was identified to support a community center on Brompton Road that required improvements to its fire safety systems, the current system was very old and had become noncompliant but did not have the funding available to undertake the work. 

Recognising the importance of the center as a valuable community asset, our team volunteered its expertise to assess the building and determine the most appropriate fire safety solution. Following a comprehensive site survey, we designed a solution using a wireless fire alarm and detection system, a proven technology that we regularly install and maintain across our social housing contracts. 

To maximise the social value delivered through the project, we worked with one of our trusted supply chain partners, Firesense, to secure the fire panel and associated equipment free of charge. Through the strong relationship we have built with Firesense, we were able to source the required equipment at no cost, before installing and commissioning the system using our own skilled engineers. 

This project demonstrates how social value can go beyond traditional volunteering and charitable donations. By applying our technical knowledge, industry partnerships and fire safety expertise, we were able to enhance the safety of a community facility, helping to protect the people who use it while ensuring the center can continue to provide valuable services to local residents. It is an example of how collaboration can create lasting social value and deliver meaningful benefits directly within the communities we serve.